Safeguarding Drinking Water Sources in Low Income Municipalities: A Case Study of Buea, Cameroon

Abstract

Source water contamination poses a risk to public health and increases the cost of drinking water treatment. Source 
water protection is a proactive approach for the enhancement of drinking water quality and quantity. A combination of 
research methods (desk review, interviews and reconnaissance field appraisal) have been used to identify major 
drinking water sources in Buea, land use activities which constitute potential threats and pathways of contamination of 
these sources as well as the capacity for source water protection in Buea. Our findings revealed that anthropogenic 
activities around the six major drinking water sources studied present visible potential threats and pathways for 
contamination, and that source water protection has not been given adequate attention in the planning and development 
of Buea. The potential human and social capacities are limited by the lack of financial and technical resources. This is 
further compounded by the fact that institutional arrangement does not facilitate the integration of land and water 
management at the local level. A framework for local strategic multi-stakeholder source water protection with the 
potential to foster leadership, pull together available resources from different stakeholders and reduce potential 
resistance to the integration of land and water management has been proposed. There is an urgent need for the adoption 
of a precautionary approach and research to develop baseline data that will enable comprehensive source water 
protection measures.